I tried it but alas, it was nice in concept but truly aweful in realisation, as a noob I had to run incredible distances for even the first quests, with poor directions, and the mobs were aweful first mob i encountered ate me alive, not because it was a single unbalanced mob in a noob zone but because there 3 mobs standing inside each other in the same spot you approached what looked like on emob and 3 emerged and killed you then they went back to standing in the same place, worse they couldnt be damaged, alas after spending 10 mins running (very slowly being a noob with lousy runing) back to the same spot avoiding that mob cluster half the other mobs in the area had at least 2 mobs standing in spot, they created an mob system over some bridges raises area, but half the mobs that werent stuck together fell through the world upon first shooting them disappearing entirely,
It's not just a matter that they were a small firm that released early and game wasnt complete enoughm it was they were a small firm that didnt put enough thought infact into the real player experience, noobs a year + into release shouldnt encounter those kind of earth shattering issues hell not even at release not even with an indie firm, I spent a few hours at the beginning of the game wondering around mostly lost and confused everytime I encountered something intresting it was bugged, it took forerver and the world seemed dead as a doornail, a small firm that released to early would have had a brilliant expetrience for the first so many levels pre-prepaired it's thin out to grind somewhere along the way, the interface was pretty aweful and not inutitive either, this firm didnt just release to early they never even though about how to treat new players atall, anyone who made it through to play the full game no matter how much pvp may have been had to be a glutton for punnishment and a mascochist , it's really a demonstation of poor design, they obviously never really sat down and planned the design from the beginning, they came up with a basic concept and then probably immediately went to work without a completed thought through design, working on making the graphics and networking engines then graphic assets then the game all the while never thinking about what they were doing properly.
And worse they clearly never played their own game before they released it, any studio of any size can at least make the first few levels (yes I include skill levels in that I did start in uo) fun a taste of things to come to be improved after release, they never even cracked square one, because they never really thought about it.
Before a company doest everything thinking aboutt what will greet the customer BEFORE they start working is the most important aspect, it's like a 101 case study on what not to do design wise, graphic and model variety and everything is secondary to this.
It's obviously a pitty for the developer's but these people are not the first small studio to make an MMO, hell even 4 guys made an MMO that's really good and still running many years from release, it's never been widely successfull but it's always pulled its own we8ight because it was designed well in the first place (infinity online), and was improved from release as best as possible, they simply didnt do as good as job as others.
As expected when the game went F2P late last year. Sad to see yet an other indy MMO bite the dust...
Not a shame it all. They commited Corporate suicide themselves the moment they released the game in the state it was in.
It was so so obvious during the last beta week that the game was virtually unplayable and yet they released anyway and start asking money on par with AAA games, hoping to cash in quickly!!
Sorry, but the game was pretty much doomed right from that moment.
There are still Indy studios around that know how to launch a game with minimal budget. Just look at Perpetuum Online for example.
They launched small and asked "small" prices. They are still around. But more importantly. Their game was at least solid and playable.
I don't agree with you about Perpetuum. It's fun for a while, but once you get into Mechs, it's an anti-climax. You don't get the feeling of power that you should.
They should have never released the game as it was. they did and cheated lots of people who bought that unfinnished marketing hyped crap.
Good way to make a name in the mmo market for a startup.. gogo Masthead Studios!
Even more dispicable was them lying to the costumers promising features they would implement that never were implemented and ( in my humble opinion ) were never MENT to be implemented at all.
Masthead Studios is nothing more than a money grab company, made for fast profit and pretty much nothing else.
But.. people were warnned about it here, there were many posts telling people what would happen.. the signs were there right from the start, so if you got cheated, you got cheated wilingly.
Unfortunately for everyone Money > Beta Testers. If the money says release, they have no choice but to do as they are told. That's why we need an Indy developer backed by some serious cash, with quality programmers. With all the ridiculously bad investments people do these days, why won't any of them invest in an MMO?
"Backed by serious cash"? Money isn't always the solution. I can't help but relate this to Vanguard ... As one of Sigil's first testers who hung in there to release, in the middle of all that drama, Tons of Microsoft money, then lack thereof proved that money was only one relatively minor facet in the Vanguard Saga (pun intended), We'll have to wait and see who steps up to fill the role for EarthRise that SoE played for Vanguard. EarthRise will be back.
It was a great idea, but 'released too early' is an understatement.. the game was bearly playable, never mind the inbalances and general bugs. I never went back after the first month, but I do hope they get the chance to try again (or to resurrect Earthrise) as the potential was definitely there, but in todays market you're not going to find many gamers (or publishers for that matter) willing to pay for potential.
Comments
I'm surprised this steaming pile of puke of a game lasted 1 year.
If laughter can be contagious, why do we never hear of any mirth epidemics?
i predicted that this game wont last 2 years when the game was out for a month, people laugh at me, and mock me, now who's laughing? haha
i was even too generous to give it 2 years
So What Now?
I tried it but alas, it was nice in concept but truly aweful in realisation, as a noob I had to run incredible distances for even the first quests, with poor directions, and the mobs were aweful first mob i encountered ate me alive, not because it was a single unbalanced mob in a noob zone but because there 3 mobs standing inside each other in the same spot you approached what looked like on emob and 3 emerged and killed you then they went back to standing in the same place, worse they couldnt be damaged, alas after spending 10 mins running (very slowly being a noob with lousy runing) back to the same spot avoiding that mob cluster half the other mobs in the area had at least 2 mobs standing in spot, they created an mob system over some bridges raises area, but half the mobs that werent stuck together fell through the world upon first shooting them disappearing entirely,
It's not just a matter that they were a small firm that released early and game wasnt complete enoughm it was they were a small firm that didnt put enough thought infact into the real player experience, noobs a year + into release shouldnt encounter those kind of earth shattering issues hell not even at release not even with an indie firm, I spent a few hours at the beginning of the game wondering around mostly lost and confused everytime I encountered something intresting it was bugged, it took forerver and the world seemed dead as a doornail, a small firm that released to early would have had a brilliant expetrience for the first so many levels pre-prepaired it's thin out to grind somewhere along the way, the interface was pretty aweful and not inutitive either, this firm didnt just release to early they never even though about how to treat new players atall, anyone who made it through to play the full game no matter how much pvp may have been had to be a glutton for punnishment and a mascochist , it's really a demonstation of poor design, they obviously never really sat down and planned the design from the beginning, they came up with a basic concept and then probably immediately went to work without a completed thought through design, working on making the graphics and networking engines then graphic assets then the game all the while never thinking about what they were doing properly.
And worse they clearly never played their own game before they released it, any studio of any size can at least make the first few levels (yes I include skill levels in that I did start in uo) fun a taste of things to come to be improved after release, they never even cracked square one, because they never really thought about it.
Before a company doest everything thinking aboutt what will greet the customer BEFORE they start working is the most important aspect, it's like a 101 case study on what not to do design wise, graphic and model variety and everything is secondary to this.
It's obviously a pitty for the developer's but these people are not the first small studio to make an MMO, hell even 4 guys made an MMO that's really good and still running many years from release, it's never been widely successfull but it's always pulled its own we8ight because it was designed well in the first place (infinity online), and was improved from release as best as possible, they simply didnt do as good as job as others.
I don't agree with you about Perpetuum. It's fun for a while, but once you get into Mechs, it's an anti-climax. You don't get the feeling of power that you should.
2 years of waiting and some few bucks shorter. thanks alot Meathead studio.
idea was decent. implementation was crap.
They should have never released the game as it was. they did and cheated lots of people who bought that unfinnished marketing hyped crap.
Good way to make a name in the mmo market for a startup.. gogo Masthead Studios!
Even more dispicable was them lying to the costumers promising features they would implement that never were implemented and ( in my humble opinion ) were never MENT to be implemented at all.
Masthead Studios is nothing more than a money grab company, made for fast profit and pretty much nothing else.
But.. people were warnned about it here, there were many posts telling people what would happen.. the signs were there right from the start, so if you got cheated, you got cheated wilingly.
It was a great idea, but 'released too early' is an understatement.. the game was bearly playable, never mind the inbalances and general bugs. I never went back after the first month, but I do hope they get the chance to try again (or to resurrect Earthrise) as the potential was definitely there, but in todays market you're not going to find many gamers (or publishers for that matter) willing to pay for potential.
Its not a bad game?? c`mon an...gimmi a break...